The Setup

The performance showcases two pianists, Orazio Sciortino
and Richard Rentsch who sit facing one another in front of two interlaced grand pianos.
The performance begins by collecting a short series of notes from the audience, at random. These notes are used as a starting point to
create a spontaneous, improvised composition. While the pianists play, neuroscientist-musician
Dr. Nathaniel Evans records various neurophysiological signals from the musicians, including electrical brain activity, heart activity, respiration, and head movements.
In collaboration with the BigMap visual collective, these signals are transformed into visuals and
are projected above the pianists for the audience to see. The three projections represent the individual activity of the two pianists, as well as a shared space
that highlights moments of fusion and synchrony between the brains of the two pianists.

Philosophy

This mixed-media performance piece extends the metaphor that the creation is born in an enigmatic void. Our moment-by-moment actions are
guided by our past experiences, our present environment, our social interactions, and our mysterious ability to surprise ourselves by reformulating these elements.
Our lives, our compositions, are constantly unfolding via creation. Social interaction leads us to
unpredictable outcomes that could have not existed in the individual, rather, only by synchronized collaboration.
This fully improvised composition, combined with a conceptual, visual representation of the internal physiological states of the pianists that highlights their
interpersonal synchronization, makes a poignant and intriguing artistic statement as well as a captivating, unique, and un-repeatable experience for audiences.